Warbird Information Exchange

Have any of the new build ME 262s been used in any film or television productions yet?

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

Since I'm a sometime filmwriter, I can with some involvement in the business ask, why would anybody use a real airplane in a film, with all of the consequent possible problems--weather might not be good enough, might be a mechanical problem, pilot has a hangover on the day scheduled for shooting, etc. etc.--when they could use CGI? Not one film-goer in 100,000 cares that it's CGI, which is today good enough that not one in 99,900 of them will even know it's computer-generated. Films today are shot on strict schedules; it's not like the old days when Richard Burton and Liz Taylor went to Egypt for four months, most of these things are done in two or three weeks of serious shooting. There's no time for messing around with a Messerschmitt.

With all due respect Stephan, I disagree. With the cost of CGI, it is sometimes cheaper to use the real thing. It is also more REAL !

There must be something to this real thing since we spent 3 weeks in New Orleans working Green Lantern. There were a lot more REAL aircraft and equipment being used than just our three aircraft, none of it for free !

The ME262s haven't been used yet, to my knowledge.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

It is cheaper for a film company to use real aircraft, but the CGI trend is so great because it allows the director have the aircraft do exactly what they want, in the manner and timing they want it. It doesn't mean I like it, but that's what they like to do. I guess they don't want to save money!
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

CGI is sometimes just an easy way for tech happy film makers to get what they want. Audiences do appreciate realism, and can tell when it's present. "Master and Commander" would have been much less effective if they used CGI for the ships, and many of the recent airplane movies would have been more effective if they used more real flying. CGI is OK when used sparingly, like in "Enemy at the Gates", but is indeed sometimes over-used.

Re 262s, I was at the MAM over the weekend for their WW1 show and Mike Spaulding said that he has about 5 hours in their 262 now and really likes it. He had glowing words for the Fw-190 also...



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http://www.biplanerides1.com/

"... it allows the director have the aircraft do exactly what they want..."

Usually funky unrealistic movements aimed for the pop-corn crowd, able to disgust even more the aviation enthusiasts trying to endure the usually ridiculous scenarios.

I can't think of too many mass market film scenarios where the 262s would be relevant.
There weren't a lot of them and they fought on the losing side, giving them a technological advantage.
Maybe a film about Walter Novotny or one of the other aces that fought to the end in one, but who would make it?

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Chris Mellor

The only Feature Film I can think of that featured the 262 was the recent "Red Tails," and all of them were (bad) CGI. I don't have a problem with CGI, as it allows a film to recreate mass formations or extinct types. The problem is that it's seldom done well, and usually comes out just looking like a fancy cartoon or video game. About the only CGI aviation scene I can think of that I really liked was the finale of the recent King Kong remake. Of course, director Peter Jackson is a long-time aircraft enthusiast and collector, so he tried his best to do it right. Unfortunately, most directors consider aviation sequences nothing more than car chases with a third dimension added..and let's face it: most movie/TV car chases feature the vehicles behaving in ridiculously unrealistic and downright impossible ways.

SN

The filming of "Amelia" in South Africa required the ferry of an Electra all the way from France and return.
The cost of the trip was, from what I red, far lower than the CGI estimated budget.

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Sorry for my bad English:-(